The good of the many

by Dafaddah

Chapter 13: Hugs and roses

Mary put down the phone. She called up the security station for her section of the White House. After two rings a familiar voice answered.

"Security. How can we help you Ms. Lachance?"

"Hi Bill. I need you to trace the origin of the call I just completed, as well as get me a transcript of the first two minutes of the call. Could have an agent come to my office with a printed transcript as soon as possible?"

Bill replied, sounding as if this was an everyday occurrence at the White House. "Certainly, Ms. Lachance. It'll be less than ten minutes."

Mary needed one last proof this this was not a fabrication of her imagination. The letters from Twilight she could have written herself. Come to think of it, she had written them herself! At least it was physically her hand that wrote them. Having a transcript of the call was physical evidence of another person being involved that she could not easily fake, if she was indeed deluding herself.

A few minutes later there was a knock at her door. "Come in!" she called out. A secret service agent - a woman she knew - entered.

Mary smiled in greeting. "Agent Dunham. Were you able to track where the call was from, and could you read me the transcript?" The young agent nodded.

"The phone number is that of a cell phone registered in France to CERN, assigned to a Dr. Laura Connor working at the Large Hadron Collider facility." She began reading the transcript. After a minute Mary interrupted.

"That's good enough. Thank you, and please also thank Bill for me!" The agent left. Now there was no denying the 'pony dream' was not a dream, but an actual fact. She picked up the phone again and dialed.

A young man answered sounding flustered. "Office of the Presid.., oh, hi Mary!"

"Hello Jim. I assume all hell is breaking loose regarding the event that happened half an hour ago."

"Yep. The boss has called out the VP to set up a threat assessment meeting with the joint chiefs. But so far it looks like the military has no idea what this could be."

"Well, please tell her that I do, and that I have evidence to present to back up my claims."

"Will do. Mary, are you sure about this?" He sounded concerned.

"Absolutely! And you'll know I was right if I'm still working for the boss tomorrow." She couldn't resist throwing Jim a bit of gallows humor. She knew he might also get into trouble if her arguments weren't taken seriously. One doesn't intervene lightly in cabinet level politics, and the vice-president was a woman who did not suffer fools gladly.

"Ok, I'll forward you the meeting invite provisionally. You should expect a call from Mrs. Walker and be ready to defend your participation in the meeting."

"I hear ya', Jim. Thanks a bunch." She hung up and started putting her notes in order. She also decided on a contingency. Picking up a paper she wrote a note to Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Twilight,

Dr. Connor has contacted me and confirmed the contents of my discourse with the Princesses. My national government is now putting together a response to the dimensional shock wave that occurred earlier. I already have scientific evidence in the form of gravity waves. I have been asked to participate in a meeting at eleven PM local time, so I would much prefer we not be in a swap at that time, unless you want to explain the situation to the president and cabinet in my place! Just kidding.

Regards,

Mary

She sat waiting for the call from the vice-president.

***

Sunset Hoofing called the meeting to order in Twilight's quarters. Princess Luna was sitting beside her. In a circle around them, the Elements of Harmony, Glowball and Spike sat on cushions, anxious for news of Celestia. The minister gestured to the Princess and all eyes focused on the dark mare.

"Ladies and Spike. You are no doubt concerned with my sister's condition following this afternoon's event. After bringing her to her apartments I was able to continue her restorative treatment and she is now resting well. We spoke briefly beforehand. She asked me to commend everypony present for some very quick thinking when she was incapacitated. She was both touched by your concern and very proud of how all of you acted in harmony when it truly mattered."

The old mare saw relief spread amongst the younger ones faces. With everypony's main emotional concern now addressed, it was time to get down to business.

"We have called this meeting in order to form teams working on each aspect of our efforts to avert the impending catastrophe. I will lead the team tasked with finding the focal point of the convergence. With me will be Glowball, and her human counterpart Dr. Connor." She turned towards Luna.

"During my sister's recuperation, I will lead the team preparing the release of magical energy to prevent the convergence. The Elements of Harmony other than Twilight Sparkle will join me."

"And I," said the lavender librarian, "will lead the team to coordinate activities in both universes. The human Laura Lachance will join me in this, and of course Spike will help both myself and Glowball with the sleeping cap."

The Princess spoke once more. "By the way, I will require the presence of Elements of Harmony and minister Hoofing for a meeting of the Equine Assembly in an hour. I will also have you ladies from Ponyville assigned rooms in the castle for the duration, so we can move quickly if needed. An attendant is waiting to assist you as you exit this meeting."

Hoofing was amused when the five mares started whispering to each other excitedly. They were obviously pleased at the honor, none more so than Rarity whose expression could only be described as ecstatic verging on silly.

"Are there any questions?" asked the minister. She nodded when nopony raised a hoof to reply. "We will meet up again here in three hours for group reports and dinner. This meeting is adjourned."

***

Laura and Peter left the meeting room together and walked back to their offices. She noticed him giving her the strangest look.

"Well, that was a bit of a bomb-shell to drop onto the meeting. An m-brane collision? You've been with me all day and acting strange, even for you. When did you have time to go investigating something like that? And on top of everything else, why did you call a number in the United States just before the meeting started?"

Looking at her perplexed assistant. She didn't know whether to be pleased that Peter had noticed the change, or vexed that he hadn't figured out that her body had been inhabited all day by an interloper from another universe!

"Peter, we need to talk." As they had just arrived back to their offices she gestured to her door. She gathered her thoughts for a moment as they sat down, and gave him one of her patented I-know-something-you-don't infuriating smiles.

"Oh, oh. She's baa-aaack!" said Peter. "Okay, so who did I spend the day with? You have a long lost twin you've never told me about?" He raised an eyebrow, both annoyed and intrigued.

"Would you believe you just spent the day in the company of a light grey unicorn called Glowball?" She grinned even wider. "And that our universe narrowly escaped annihilation only because of the efforts of a large white unicorn-pegasus by the name of Princess Celestia? And that both she and Glowball are from the universe potentially colliding with ours? And that while you spent the day with Glowball in my body, I spent the day in hers, in that other universe, where science includes a discipline called magic? While I was there I also had a chance to visit their ministry of science, meet the co-sovereigns of their nation of Equestria, and talk with another human from our universe, inhabiting the body of a lavender colored unicorn call Twilight Sparkle. Oh, and by the way that human is the person I called in Washington DC. She's actually the science advisor to the president of the United States."

She stopped to breath for a second, saw Peter's expression, and burst out laughing. "Oh, man. You should see the look on your face!" Peter was now becoming even more annoyed, which just made her laugh harder. Between gasps for breath, she decided to take pity on the poor man. "Peter, I swear it's all true." She took a breath. "I can prove it. Please check with the GEO 600 project." Another breath. "Confirmed detection of gravity waves."

"OK, Laura. I believe you. If only because having this Glowball unicorn in your head does explain your strange behavior today, and some of the questions you asked." His eyes grew wide. "Oh, and it explains why you didn't seem to know how to use your cell phone, nor recognize Abigail when she called."

"What! Did she do something to get me in trouble with Abigail?" Laura was suddenly very serious. Now it was Peter's turn to laugh at her expression.

"Don't worry, I'm used to covering for your social handicaps! That reminds me, you've got half an hour to tell me everything before I escort you to the entrance so Abigail can pick you up for your anniversary dinner." He pointed to his watch. "The meter is running. Tick, tock, tick, tock."

Dr. Connor began summarizing her day in Equestria, this time leaving out no significant detail.

***

Spike raised the sleeping cap above Twilight's head. "Assume the position!," said the baby dragon.

"Very funny, Spike," said the lavender mare, as she fully reclined on the cushion beneath her. She saw the cap descend, and then darkness...

***

The first thing Twilight noticed when she opened her eyes was the dark device she held to her face, from which an irate voice could be heard coming out of the part touching her ear. "Mary, are you still there?" said a rather tough female sounding voice.

"Uh, yes, of course." Twilight was aghast. They had effected the exchange in the middle of a conversation. The young mare had feared might happen sooner of later. She scrambled for time. "But, I was unfortunately distracted when I dropped my to-do list. Sorry about that. Could you repeat what you just said?" She cringed, hoping Spike would remember what to do and that she had given him enough time.

***

Mary woke in a panic. She was just on the phone with the VP when everything went black. Noticing the look on her face, the cute little dragon asked: "Was this a bad time? Do you want to switch back?"

"Yes! Now!" said Lachance, hoping that her chances at convincing the VP had not just been ruined. "Tell Twilight no more exchanges for at least 90 minutes. I'll leave her written instructions."

Spike nodded, and dropped the hat onto her head...

***

"I said, what evidence do you have for your rather extreme claim, Mary, and I don't appreciate my time being wasted," said Walker's voice.

With a gulp, Mary replied. "I have reports from a Dr. Laura Connor from CERN and results of the leading gravity wave detector in Germany. Together they are highly convincing. I sent you the data from both by email a few minutes ago."

"You know very well I need more than just speculation here. This is a matter of national security."

"I felt the tremors as well, madame vice-president. And to be frank, have you gotten results from any other avenue being explored?"

There was silence on the line as the VP paused a moment. "No. Not really. Or at least nothing that I would care to share with the joint chiefs and the boss."

"Well then, looks like I'm the only game in town," said Lachance.

Again there was a pause. "Okay, you're in. Be at the 'war room' in fifteen minutes, and be ready." The other end of the line hung up.

Mary hung up as well. She took a deep breath. Marshaling her courage in the otherwise empty office, she said out loud: "Here we go..."

***

Glowball hurried back to the Ministry of Science. She desperately wanted some time to get ready for her anniversary dinner with Time Crescent before the mare showed up at the reception. Luckily there were showers in the building for staff use, and she was able to get herself presentable as the appointed time neared.

Spotting her leaving the showers, Rock Candy cantered up to her, looking miffed. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you."

"And I'm even ready on time for my anniversary," said Glowball with a guilty smile. She was sorry she hadn't thought to locate Rock Candy before going to the showers. Her boss had told her of Rock playing host to Laura Connor most of the day.

The stallion stood before her. "Let's see. You're ready on time, you're cleaned up, and you even apologized for making me frantic." He looked her up and down as if he was examining a particularly strange specimen. "Is this Glowball or is this the human Dr. Laura Connor again?"

"Oh ha, ha," deadpanned Glowball. "I spend the whole day away and this is the welcome back I get. Maybe somepony isn't interested. Maybe I just won't tell a certain foalish colt about what the human world was like, and the amazing tools they have there to do science."

Rock Candy lowered his ears in defeat. 'I can play him like a fiddle!' thought Glowball smugly. "Okay, number one assistant. How about you escort me to the reception so we can both be there on time and meet a certain librarian? On the way I can tell you about something called the Internet."

Her assistant's ears surged back up. They walked together to the reception, Glowball speaking animatedly of computers, screens, mice and the world-wide-web.

***

Laura and Peter arrived at the main visitor entrance of their office complex at CERN. Peter asked her to wait for a moment and went to ask the receptionist a question. She left for the internal office and returned a moment later with a wrapped bouquet of roses, which her assistant handed to her.

"This is for you to give Abigail." Laura was very touched at Peter's thoughtfulness.

"You know, Peter, if I haven't said it before, I'll say it now. You're the best pal a gal could have!" She gave him an uncharacteristic hug.

"Ahem!"

They turned around and there was Abigail. "Do I get one those too?"
They both hugged the new arrival. Peter watched as Laura gave her girlfriend the flowers and waited for the fuss to die down.

"Now Abigail. I kid you not, we are working on a matter of national importance, so please don't feel bad if Laura has to take a call or two. It really is that important to all of us."

"Well, of course," said Abigail. "That goes twice are far if you say so, Peter!" She winked at the man, to show she really had no hard feelings. Arm-in-arm, the two left for their dinner as Peter made his way back to his office and a special task Dr. Connor had asked of him.

***

Minister Hoofing and the Elements of Harmony huddled together in the ante-chamber of Princess Celestia's apartments. She had woken and requested their presence for instructions before the meeting of the Equine Assembly. The door opened and Luna beckoned them to enter. They gathered around the bed in which lay the elder Princess, smiling at them reassuringly.

"Welcome, my little ponies, and thank you for your help earlier today. Equestria has yet again been well served by her Elements of Harmony." She paused a moment and took a breath. "I have called you here so that you could hear this directly from me and attest to that effect before the Equine Assembly. I will need a period of time to recover my energies. During that time my sister Luna will run affairs of state and Minister Hoofing will lead the efforts to prevent the convergence. Twilight Sparkle is also appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary to the human universe and is empowered to represent Equestria and its government in negotiations thereto."

Twilight appeared the most surprised at this last, and not a little frightened at the prospect.

"One more thing..." she said with a twinkle in her eye. "I have objects of power for each of you wield in addition to the Elements of Harmony themselves. Minister Hoofing will distribute these to you in a bit. It will be your duty to use these to help provide magical energy for the final push to end the convergence."

She looked with affection on the faces gathered around her. "I am counting on you to support Luna and Minister Hoofing in the meeting of the Assembly, and help reassure all Equestrians that this threat to their lives and happiness is being dealt with."

Heads nodded vigorously all around her. "Good. Now ladies, I must bid you an early good night. I really need my beauty sleep!" She dismissed them with a wink, and they left her quarters in silence.

***

Princess Luna led them to a room below the main floor of the Great Hall of the Herd. Steps led up to the Hall itself. She paused at the bottom of the steps, looking up.

"Are you nervous, your Highness?" asked the minister.

"More than a little," admitted the Princess. "With Celestia incapacitated, we may need the support of the assembly in order to rally all the resources of Equestria in this cause. There are a lot of ponies out there who will not relish my return to an executive role."

Twilight Sparkle spoke up. "We'll be there to back you, Princess. I'm sure the assembly will see reason."

Minister Hoofing started to cackle. "Well there's only one way to find out!" she said, and indicated with a hoof that it was time to go.

Luna strode up the stairs, the other mares following close behind.

Comments

[Dafaddah]

Dear readers,

Here is chapter 13. 13 is usually lucky for me. In this chapter Spike gets cheated out of some Mary love. Poor Spike. He'll get more later. Promise!

Dafaddah

[jillswift]

Lovin' this! Yes yes!

[BenRG]

Bureaucracy is the only true constant in all universes. I imagine that both Mary and Luna will face similar levels of outrage, denial and hand-waving-masquerading-as-thought in response to their revelations.